Distribution missions
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Distribution missions are missions given by distribution agents. They are usually courier missions in which you have to transport some cargo for the agent. An exception to this are some low-level mission chains (A New Venture, for example) which do involve combat. It is recommended having a small combat-capable ship (Frigate/Destroyer) at or near your mission base.
Structure
A courier mission is a mission to either collect a piece of cargo from one station and deliver it to another or to collect a piece of cargo from a deadspace location. When a courier mission is accepted, the necessary cargo is spawned in your personal hangar at the "Pickup Location". You then need to haul it to the "Drop-off Location" using your ship. Usually, the agent location is either the pickup or drop-off location. Once docked at the destination station you can complete the mission by talking to the agent. The cargo only counts as delivered if it is either in your personal hangar at the destination station or in your ship's cargo hold while you are docked at the destination station.
TIP: Although located in your ship inventory, cargo held in containers will not be accepted.
Aside from any mission-related hazards you only have to deal with the usual hazards of travel (Gatecamps, suicide gankers, Warp Interdiction on Stargates in Null security space, and so on). Level 1 missions will keep you within the agent's constellation, level 2 and level 3 will possibly send you to an adjacent constellation, level 4 missions will always send you to an adjacent constellation. [1]
It is worth noting that although you are at the destination station you can still talk to the original agent remotely to complete the mission without going back to the original station. They will be listed in the station's "Agents" tab after you dock, or you can start a conversation with them using your mission journal. However, until you fly back and dock at their station, they will not give you a new mission.
If a distribution mission has an item as a reward instead of ISK, then the item will appear in your personal hangar at the issuing agent's station, which is usually the pickup station.
Ship choices
Level 1 and 2 distribution missions can be run using frigates, although you may need to use cargo modules in the low slots. Cargo size for L1/L2 missions can be up to 450 m3 in size. For level 3 and 4 distribution missions you will need a hauler as cargo sizes will be in the 4.000–8.000 m3 range. Note that it is beneficial to have more cargo room than required as you can then run missions for multiple agents at once.
Level 1 and Level 2
The Sunesis is a great option for those levels. It has a base cargo capacity of 600 m3 which can be increased by expanded cargoholds. You can fit it to align in under two seconds even if your skills are not especially good. This means most gatecamps will struggle to lock you fast enough and you can comfortably use it in highsec and lowsec. When you fit a bit of a shield tank you also have enough EHP that it's very difficult to kill you with a smartbomb camp. As rigs you usually choose hyperspatials to warp faster and thus reduce travel time.
If the Sunesis is too expensive for you, you can also use a T1 exploration frigate (Magnate, Heron, Imicus, Probe)). They have a base cargo capacity of 400 m3 so it is suggested to fit at least one expanded cargohold. You can achieve align times of under three seconds with fitting and good skills but you cannot go under two seconds (at least not reasonably). This means gate camps might more often catch you. If you're not wardecced, this isn't a big issue in highsec. In lowsec, you might want to use MWD + cloak trick (which is also an option for you in the Sunesis).
If you have already access to a blockade runner, you could use it not only for higher level distribution missions but also for the low levels.
Level 3 and Level 4
As the required capacity can range up to 4 000 m3 for level 3 and 8 000 m3 for level 4, you will need to move up from a frigate to a bigger ship. A good option which is cheap and has low skill requirements are T1 fast transports (Sigil, Badger, Nereus, Wreathe) which are all able to reach the required cargo capacity with sufficient expanded cargohold even at low skill. While you're going to need to be able to fit up to 8 000 m3, most missions require 4 000-5 000 m3 which will allow fitting more inertial stabilizers for a faster align speed. Hyperspatial rigs are used for higher warp speed. Cloak and MWD are nice to have for the MWD + cloak trick. Anything that increases warp speed, increases agility, or decreases inertial modifiers will help speed up your distribution runs. While there are some differences between the different fast transports, you mostly want to go for the one where you have the best skills.
All Levels
If you've decided to focus on distribution Missions and get an an optimized ship, then your go-to will be Blockade Runners. These are the fastest cargo haulers in the game, and as an added bonus have the ability to warp cloaked which makes them safer in dangerous places. These are significantly more expensive than T1 hauler, but easily outshine even frigates in terms of completion rates due to faster warp initiation and speed, allowing completing several level 1 and level 2 missions at once or keeping a frigate pace on level 3 and level 4 missions.
Warning: Blockade Runners are considered high value targets. As they can't be cargo scanned most gankers will assume they have valuable cargo and gank them whenever they catch them. Be very careful running distribution missions in Blockade Runners around populated areas.
| Ship Base | Suggested Fit  Assuming all skills VExpanded Cargohold II to >5 000 m3 Remaining low slots Inertial Stabilizer II All Hyperspatial Velocity Optimizer II rigs | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ship | Capacity | Time to Warp | Warp Speed | Low Slots | Capacity | Time to Warp | Warp Speed |
 Prorator |
2900 m3 | 7.75s | 6AU/s | 4 | 5893 m3 | 3.46s | 11.4AU/s |
 Crane |
4300 m3 | 7.78s | 6AU/s | 2 | 5375 m3 | 3.47s | 11.4AU/s |
 Viator |
3600 m3 | 7.49s | 6AU/s | 3 | 5737 m3 | 3.34s | 11.4AU/s |
 Prowler |
3500 m3 | 7.53s | 6AU/s | 3 | 5578 m3 | 3.36s | 11.4AU/s |
NOTE: While the Prowler has marginally worse align time than the Viator, it has a significantly higher base speed. When a warp to falls a little short, it makes up the distance faster than any other, making it the ideal Distribution mission ship.
Standings Grind
Distribution missions are by far the fastest mission type to increase corporation and faction standings. [Verify]
In a same-system destination and well fit ship, time from acceptance to completion can be below 30 seconds. As a result, completing Distribution missions quickly is the fastest way to receive Storyline missions. Even though the Distribution missions give (low) corporation standing gains themselves, the Storyline mission will give more noticeable corporation standing gain and improve faction standings.
